Clippings

Feb 06, 2003

Clan helps Igali raise funds for schoolHis goal of winning Olympic gold came true, but now Canadian wrestling champion and SFU criminology graduate student Daniel Igali is following another dream. The Nigerian born athlete made a commitment to his village of Eniwari, that he would build a school. He hopes to raise $300,000. To date, he has raised more than $50,000 and the school's foundation has been built. SFU's Clan athletes are rallying around Igali and will honour him at their last home basketball games of the season, on Feb. 7 at 6:30 p.m. in the Chancellors gym.

All proceeds from the men's and women's games against Brandon University will be donated to the school fundraising project. Before the game the teams are hosting an elementary school basketball clinic which will also give young athletes a chance to meet Igali, who will talk about his latest quest and sign commemorative photo cards of his Olympic moment. For more information on how you can help the Eniwari school project contact Igali at danieligali@aol.com

Discussion on plagiarismThe centre for writing-intensive learning and the president's task force on academic honesty are inviting faculty to facilitated roundtable discussions on avoiding plagiarism. Discussions will centre around the task force's report on first year students' understanding and attitudes towards plagiarism. Join in this exchange of ideas, strategies and views on Feb. 13, 3:30 p.m.-5:00 pm, in AQ5040. The goal is to identify successful approaches for eliminating occurrences of plagiarism.

Swanick heads special collectionsEric Swanick is the new head of special collections at the SFU library. Swanick, who was most recently the New Brunswick legislative librarian, is also a past president of the Association of Parliamentary Librarians in Canada and of the Bibliographical Society of Canada.

In his new position, Swanick will build relationships with book dealers, collectors and library supporters to strengthen and broaden SFU Library's special collections. Swanick succeeds special collections librarian Ralph Stanton.

Workshop on marking offeredInstructors and faculty will soon face the daunting task of marking student papers. The centre for writing-intensive learning is offering a workshop that will provide new ideas and methods for assessing and marking student papers, with a view to making the process more informative and instructive for student writers. The workshop runs on March 7, 9 a.m.-noon, in AQ5040.

Study in FranceIf you've a yen to spend some time studying in France, Marta Maftei can help make it happen. A representative of EduFrance, Maftei now has an office on campus (AQ6175) and is available to help individual students or groups plan courses, workshops or seminars in France. She can also help to arrange accommodation and insurance and offers practical support. “Not all courses require proficiency in French,” notes Maftei. “Some courses may be preceded by tutoring or may have tutoring incorporated into the program.” To find out more, contact Maftei at 604-329 0280 or 604-268-6821 .

Journals onlineThe SFU library now provides access to 1,200 online journals from Elsevier's Science Direct service, which includes coverage from 1998 to the present. For members of the SFU library community, this represents an additional 900 new titles in the journals collection. The journal titles and articles may be viewed and searched from both on and off campus.

Linguists funded by networkKelleen Toohey and Diane Dagenais, professors of applied linguistics at SFU, are among several university researchers across Canada to receive funding from the Canadian Language and Literacy research network. The network fosters collaborative research and disseminates impartial scientific information on how to improve and sustain children's language and literacy development in Canada. Toohey and Dagenais are receiving $11,000 to develop instructional tools that classroom teachers can use to help them decipher literacy needs of students whose native tongue is neither English nor French, Canada's official languages.

Toohey and Dagenais, who study sociocultural and sociopolitical perspectives on language learning, have found that current classroom practices may not meet the needs of children from diverse language backgrounds. The Canadian Language and Literacy research network is part of the federal government's networks of centres of excellence (NCE). The NCE sponsors university, industry and government research aimed at improving the quality of life and economic growth in Canada. The SFU pair's project was one of 46 multi-disciplinary projects across Canada recently funded by the Canadian Language and Literacy research network.

Atkins joins NATO panelThe NATO science committee recently appointed SFU computing science professor Stella Atkins as the Canadian representative to their advisory panel on computer networking. Atkins, who is director of SFU's centre for systems science, will serve on the panel for the next four years, attending three meetings each year, with NATO paying all expenses but no honoraria. Howard Alper, president of the Royal Society of Canada, nominated Atkins for the position. The NATO science program's motto is “bringing scientists together for progress and peace.” The computer networking area's objective is to advance electronic communication within the scientific community in partner countries in order to bring scientists into contact with the international scientific community.

CorrectionA photo taken in Damascus, Syria, which won second spot in the people catergory of SFU's annual international photo contest, shows a pair of women sitting by the mosque of Al Sayidah Zeinab, the grand-daughter of Mohammed. Incorrect information appeared in the Jan. 23 issue of SFU News.